Information processing system, relay device, information processing device, and information processing method

ABSTRACT

An information processing system comprising a first computer, and a second computer configured to transmit a packet including an address of the first computer, wherein when the first computer is disconnected from a network that is for the second computer to communicate with the first computer, the second computer stops a transmission of the packet.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority of theprior Japanese Patent Application No. 2012-184947, filed on Aug. 24,2012, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The embodiment discussed herein is related to an information processingsystem, a relay device, an information processing device, and aninformation processing method.

BACKGROUND

A plurality of servers in a data center are connected to one another bya layer 2 (hereinafter referred to as “L2”) network. In the data center,a plurality of L2 networks are connected to one another via bridges(relay devices). Communication between servers connected to different L2networks is carried out by using a bridge. With communication in the L2network, the physical address (hereinafter referred to as a “mediaaccess control (MAC) address”) corresponding to a server to which acommunication packet is destined (hereinafter referred to as the“destination server”) is specified in the communication packet, therebyallowing the communication packet to be delivered to the destination.

If a server from which a communication packet is sent (hereinafterreferred to as the “source server”) has not yet acquired the MAC addresscorresponding to the destination server, an address resolution protocol(hereinafter abbreviated as an “ARP”) is followed before a communicationpacket is sent. As a result, the source server acquires the MAC addresscorresponding to the destination server.

With an ARP request, a packet, in which the destination Internetprotocol (IP) address assigned to the destination server, the source MACaddress corresponding to the source server, and the source IP addressassigned to the source server are specified, is broadcast across an L2network. A server that receives the broadcast ARP request sends MACaddress of the server as an ARP reply in a unicast manner to the sourceserver if the destination IP address specified in the packet matches theserver's own IP address.

FIG. 1 illustrates an information processing system to which a relatedart technology has been applied. In FIG. 1, a rack 2, a rack 3 and abridge 10 that are included in a data center 1 are illustrated. The rack2 includes a network 4, as well as a server 6 and a server 7 connectedto the network 4. The rack 3 includes a network 5, and a server 8 and aserver 9 connected to the network 5. The network 4 and the network 5 areL2 networks, and the network 4 and the network 5 are connected to thebridge 10. For example, the server 6 communicates with the server 8through the network 4, the bridge 10 and the network 5.

For example, assume that the source server is the server 6 and thedestination server is the server 8. If the server 6 has not acquired theMAC address of the server 8, the server 6 broadcasts an ARP requestacross the network 4. The bridge 10 receives the ARP request anddetermines that the destination IP address included in the packet of theARP request is the IP address of a server connected to the network 5,and then broadcasts the ARP request from the server 6 across the network5. Since the IP address included in the packet of the received ARPrequest matches the IP address of the server 8, the server 8 sends theMAC address of server 8 as an ARP reply in a unicast manner to theserver 6. By means of this ARP reply, the server 6 acquires the MACaddress of the server 8. Thereafter, communication at a layer 3(hereinafter referred to as “L3”) level is performed between the server1 and the server 8.

By the way, it is known that the MAC address of a terminal belonging toan IP network connected to an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networkis stored by an input/output (I/O) unit for the ATM network, and the I/Ounit makes an ARP reply on behalf of the terminal. When the IP networkis disconnected from the ATM network, the stored MAC address is deletedfrom the I/O unit.

[Patent Document] Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2004-64310

SUMMARY

According to an aspect of the invention, an information processingsystem comprising a first computer, and a second computer configured totransmit a packet including an address of the first computer, whereinwhen the first computer is disconnected from a network that is for thesecond computer to communicate with the first computer, the secondcomputer stops a transmission of the packet.

The object and advantages of the invention will be realized and attainedby means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out inthe claims.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and arenot restrictive of the invention, as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an information processing system to which a relatedart technology is applied;

FIG. 2 illustrates an information processing system to which anembodiment is applied;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example ARP packet which is communicated in theinformation processing system to which the embodiment is applied;

FIG. 4 illustrates example information which is stored in an ARP cacheto which the embodiment is applied;

FIG. 5 illustrates example VM information which is stored in amanagement server to which the embodiment is applied;

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of information stored in a bridge (relaydevice) to which the embodiment is applied;

FIG. 7 illustrates another example of information stored in the bridge(relay device) to which the embodiment is applied;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of communication which occurs in theinformation processing system to which the embodiment is applied;

FIG. 9 illustrates another example of communication which occurs in theinformation processing system to which the embodiment is applied;

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of communication compared to theinformation processing system to which the embodiment is applied;

FIG. 11 illustrates a hardware configuration of a server to which theembodiment is applied;

FIG. 12 illustrates functional blocks performed in the server to whichthe embodiment is applied;

FIG. 13 illustrates a process performed in the server to which theembodiment is applied;

FIG. 14 illustrates a hardware configuration of a management server towhich the embodiment is applied;

FIG. 15 illustrates functional blocks performed in the management serverto which the embodiment is applied;

FIG. 16 illustrates a process performed in the management server towhich the embodiment is applied;

FIG. 17 illustrates a hardware configuration of a bridge (relay device)to which the embodiment is applied;

FIG. 18 illustrates functional blocks performed in the bridge (relaydevice) to which the embodiment is applied; and

FIG. 19 illustrates a process performed in the bridge (relay device) towhich the embodiment is applied.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENT

The inventors have found out that even though the MAC address of adevice disconnected from a network is deleted from a device that makesan ARP reply on behalf of the disconnected device, an L3-level packetaddressed to the disconnected device is sometimes sent. According to anembodiment described below, missending of an L3-level packet addressedto a device disconnected from the network is inhibited.

FIG. 2 illustrates an information processing system to which theembodiment is applied. FIG. 2 illustrates a data center 100 thatincludes a rack 200, a rack 300, a virtual machine management server(hereinafter, virtual machine is abbreviated as “VM” and server isabbreviated as “SV”) 1000, and a bridge (hereinafter abbreviated as“BR”) 1100. The rack 200 includes a network (hereinafter abbreviated as“NW”) 400, and an SV 600 and an SV 700 which are connected to the NW400. The rack 300 includes an NW 500, and an SV 800 and an SV 900 whichare connected to the NW 500. For example, the NW 400 and the NW 500 arelayer 2 (hereinafter referred to as “L2”) networks, and the NW 400 andthe NW 500 are connected to the BR 1100. Communication at the L2 levelis communication of packets in which MAC addresses are specified, forexample.

In the SV 600, a virtual switch (hereinafter abbreviated as “vSW”) 610and a VM 620 are executed. The SV 600 includes an address resolutionprotocol (ARP) cache 630 corresponding to the VM 620. The MAC address ofanother VM acquired through the execution of an ARP request by the VM620 is stored (cached) in the ARP cache 630 for a fixed period of time.The vSW 610 sends a packet based on the MAC address stored in the ARPcache 630 to the NW 400. Although the SVs 700 to 900 may differ from theSV 600 in the number of VMs executed by the SV 600 and the functionsimplemented by the VM, the basic configurations of the SVs 700 to 900are each the same as the basic configuration of the SV 600, and thusdescriptions of the SVs 700 to 900 are omitted. In addition, the numberof VMs executed in the SVs 600 to 900 is arbitrary and is not limited tothe number of VMs illustrated in FIG. 2.

A VM manager SV 1000 is connected to the SVs 600 to 900 and the BR 1100.The VM manager SV 1000 manages the creation of the VM 620, a VM 720, aVM 730, a VM 740, a VM 820, a VM 830, a VM 840, a VM 920, and a VM 930in the SVs 600 to 900, which are physical servers, the elimination ofthese VMs from the physical servers, and the movement (migration) ofthese VMs among the physical servers. The VM manager SV 1000 includes adatabase (hereinafter abbreviated as “DB”) 1010. The association betweenthe MAC address and the Internet protocol (IP) address of each VM isstored as VM information in the DB 1010. The DB 1010 is implemented by amemory 3100 or a storage device 3200 described below. The VM manager SV1000 has a function of notifying the BR 1100 of the VM information. TheVM manager SV 1000 is not limited to having the function of managementof each VM, and may have the function of management of the SVs 600 to900, which are physical servers. For example, the VM manager SV 1000 mayhave functions of connecting the SVs 600 to 900 to the NW 400 and the NW500, and disconnecting the SVs 600 to 900 from the NW 400 and the NW500.

The BR 1100 is connected to the NW 400, the NW 500 and the SV 1000. TheBR 1100 is an example relay device for relaying data and packetscommunicated between the NW 400 and the NW 500. The BR 1100 includes aDB 1110 and a DB 1120.

The DB 1110 is a database that stores associations between the MACaddresses and the IP addresses of the VMs in accordance with VMinformation sent from the VM manager SV 1000. Even if the BR 1100 doesnot receive VM information that includes associations between the MACaddresses and the IP addresses of VMs from the VM manager SV 1000, theBR 1100 is able to acquire MAC addresses and IP addresses included inthe packets of an ARP request and an ARP reply when relaying the ARPrequest and the ARP reply, and therefore the BR 1100 may learnassociations between the MAC addresses and the IP addresses by cachingthe acquired MAC addresses and IP addresses in the DB 1110. The BR 1100may have a function of returning an ARP reply on behalf of thedestination of an ARP request, based on the associations between the MACaddresses and the IP addresses stored in the DB 1110. The BR 1100 mayhave a function of for example, when receiving an ARP request, making anARP reply to the source of the ARP request on behalf of the destinationif the MAC address corresponding to the destination IP address isalready in the DB 1110, without broadcasting the ARP request across theL2 network. This function is Proxy ARP. If an MAC address is alreadystored in the DB 1110, broadcasting of an ARP request decreases byvirtue of Proxy ARP, which increases efficiency of the network.

The DB 1120 is a database that stores as communication informationhistories regarding which virtual machine or server has acquired the MACaddress of which virtual machine or server as part of an ARP request.For example, the DB 1120 stores associations between the source MACaddresses and destination MAC addresses of ARP requests. As a result ofcoordination between the communication information stored in the DB 1120and the VM information stored in the DB 1010 described above, a layer 3(hereinafter referred to as “L3”)-level packet is not sent to a VMdisconnected from the network. This point will be described below.Communication at the L3 level uses transmission control protocol (TCP)and user datagram protocol (UDP), for example. The DB 1110 and DB 1120described above are implemented by a memory 4100 or a storage device4200 described below.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example ARP packet which is communicated in aninformation processing system to which the embodiment is applied. TheARP packet includes at least a preamble, destination MAC address, sourceMAC address, destination IP address, source IP address, and check sumfor error correction. The embodiment is not limited to the format of anARP packet as illustrated in FIG. 3, and may include generalinformation, such as a hardware type, other than the illustratedinformation.

By the way, with an ARP request, the destination MAC address is notspecified in an ARP packet. When the VM or server to which thedestination IP address specified in an ARP packet is assigned receivesthe ARP packet, the VM or server returns an ARP packet in which thesource MAC address and IP address of the received ARP packet are set asthe destination and the MAC address and IP address of the VM or serverare set as the source, as an ARP reply. When the BR 1100 illustrated inFIG. 2 has a function of learning associations between MAC addresses andIP addresses, the BR 1100 stores the associations between the MACaddresses and the IP addresses in ARP packets used with ARP requests andARP replies. An ARP packet is a packet used for acquisition of a MACaddress and does not include data to be sent using communication at theL3 level between VMs or servers, and therefore an ARP packet is a packetof at most several bytes.

FIG. 4 illustrates example information which is stored in an ARP cacheto which the embodiment is applied. For example, the ARP cache 630illustrated in FIG. 2 stores (caches) the information illustrated inFIG. 4 for a fixed period of time. The information stored for a fixedperiod of time is information on associations between MAC addresses andIP addresses of other VMs or servers, and is information acquired bymeans of the VM 620 making ARP requests. Some of the associationsbetween MAC addresses and IP addresses are obtained using informationreturned as ARP replies by VMs or servers, and others are associationsbetween the MAC addresses and the IP addresses stored in the ARP cache630 using information returned as ARP replies by the BR 1100 on behalfof the VMs or servers. The ARP cache in which associations between theMAC addresses and the IP addresses are stored is not limited to the ARPcache 630, and may be an ARP cache included in any of other SVs 700 to900.

FIG. 5 illustrates example VM information which is stored in amanagement server to which the embodiment is applied. An examplemanagement server is the VM manager SV 1000 illustrated in FIG. 2. TheVM information includes the MAC address and IP address of each VMmanaged by the VM manager SV 1000 and is stored in the DB 1010. The IPaddress 10.146.48.79 and the MAC address 00-90-27-AA-74-E0 are assignedto a VM with the VM number “1” by the VM manager SV 1000, for example.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of information stored in a bridge (relaydevice) to which the embodiment is applied. An example of the bridge(relay device) is the BR 1100 illustrated in FIG. 2. The informationillustrated in FIG. 6 is information about the association between theMAC addresses and the IP addresses assigned to a VM or server, and isstored in the DB 1110. The BR 1100 causes an association between the MACaddress and the IP address assigned to each VM included in the datacenter 100 to be stored in the DB 1110, based on VM information (seeFIG. 5) of which the BR 1100 is notified by the VM manager SV 1000. Ifthe BR 1100 is not notified of VM information (see FIG. 5) by the VMmanager SV 1000, the DB 1110 may learn an association between the MACaddress and the IP address assigned to each VM based on the MAC addressand IP address included in an ARP packet when relaying an ARP request oran ARP reply and store the association in the DB 1110, as mentionedabove. FIG. 6 illustrates, for example, a VM with an IP address of“10.146.46.52” and a MAC address of 00-90-27-AA-74-E1.

FIG. 7 illustrates another example of information which is stored in thebridge (relay device) to which the embodiment is applied. Theinformation illustrated in FIG. 7 is information stored in the DB 1120included in the BR 1100, and is an example of communication information.The BR 1100 stores in the DB 1120 histories regarding which virtualmachine or server has acquired the MAC address of which virtual machineor server on the occasion of an ARP request, as communicationinformation. FIG. 7 illustrates, for example, that, on the occasion ofan ARP request, a VM with the MAC address of 00-90-27-AA-74-E0 hasacquired the MAC address of 00-90-27-AA-74-E1. In addition, ARP requestsand replies are made between VMs, and therefore, in the case of theexample illustrated in FIG. 7, the MAC address of 00-90-27-AA-74-E0 maybe stored in the ARP cache of the VM with the MAC address of00-90-27-AA-74-E1. However, when the BR 1100 acts as a proxy to make anARP reply based on VM information, the MAC address of 00-90-27-AA-74-E0may possibly not be stored in the ARP cache of the VM with the MACaddress of 00-90-27-AA-74-E1 in some cases. Since a MAC address includedin an ARP cache will be erased if the MAC address is not used for afixed period of time, there are some cases where although an associationbetween MAC addresses exists in the DB 1120, the MAC address has alreadybeen erased from the ARP cache of the concerned VM. Additionally, giventhat the communication information includes a combination of MACaddresses with which communication at the L3 level has been performedafter the ARP request and the ARP reply, the communication informationmay include the case where communication at the L3 level has not beenperformed.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of communication which occurs in theinformation processing system to which the embodiment is applied. Here,an example of the VM manager SV 1000, the VM 620, VM 720 and VM 730which try to communicate with the VM 840, and the BR 1100 that relayscommunication from the VM 620, VM 720, VM 730, and VM 840 will now bedescribed. In the example of FIG. 8, at least either notifications andprocessing indicated by dashed-dotted lines or notifications andprocessing indicated by dotted lines may be performed. Additionally, atleast either notifications and processing indicated by a dasheddouble-dotted line or notifications and processing indicated by dashedlines may be performed.

As represented by notification C1 (dashed-dotted line), the BR 1100 isnotified of VM information from the VM manager SV 1000. The VMinformation is about an association between the MAC address and the IPaddress of each VM, as illustrated in FIG. 5. Upon receipt of the VMinformation, the BR 1100 performs processing 1400 (dashed-dotted border)of storing the VM information in the DB 1110. As a result of theprocessing 1400, the association between the MAC address and the IPaddress of each VM in the VM information is stored in the DB 1110.

The VM 620 which has not yet acquired the MAC address of the VM 840makes an ARP request with the destination IP address of the VM 840 inorder to perform communication at the L3 level with the VM 840. Asrepresented by notification C2, the BR 1100 is notified of the ARPrequest from the VM 620. If the BR 1100, which has received the ARPrequest of notification C2, has received the VM information throughnotification C1, the BR 1100 acts as a proxy to send the MAC addresscorresponding to the destination IP address included in the ARP requestof notification C2 in accordance with the association between the MACaddress and the IP address of each VM stored in the DB 1100, to the VM620. This ARP reply (proxy) is indicated as notification C3(dashed-dotted line). Through notification C3, the VM 620 acquires theMAC address of the VM 840. Otherwise, if the BR 1100, which has receivedthe ARP request of notification C2, has not received the VM informationthrough notification C1, the BR 1100 broadcasts an ARP request acrossthe NW 500 as indicated by notification C4 (dotted line). The VM 840receives the ARP request of notification C4. Since the destination IPaddress included in the ARP packet matches the address of the VM 840,the VM 840 makes an ARP reply, as indicated by notification C5 (dottedline), in order to notify the VM 620, which is the source, of the MACaddress of the VM 840. The ARP reply of notification C5 is relayed bythe BR 1100 and is delivered to the VM 620. Processing 1500 of storingthe MAC address of the VM 620, which is included in the ARP packet inthe ARP request of notification C4, in an ARP cache is performed by theVM 840.

Having received the ARP reply of notification C3 or the ARP reply ofnotification C5, the VM 620 performs processing 1510 in which the MACaddress of the VM 840 included in the ARP packet is stored in the ARPcache 630. Based on the MAC address of the VM 840 stored in the ARPcache 630 and transmission data, communication at the L3 level with theVM 840 is performed by the VM 620.

The BR 1100 captures the MAC address of the VM 620 included in the ARPpacket in the ARP request of notification C2, and thus performsprocessing 1530 (dotted border) in which the MAC address of the VM 620is stored in the DB 1110. The BR 1100 captures the MAC address of the VM840 included in the ARP packet in the ARP reply of notification C5, andthus performs processing 1540 (dotted border) in which the MAC addressof the VM 840 is stored in the DB 1110. When processing 1400 indicatedby a dashed-dotted line is performed, since the association between theMAC address and the IP address of each VM is stored in the DB 1110 ofthe BR 1100, processing 1530 and processing 1540 indicated by dottedborders may be omitted.

The BR 1100 determines, based on either the ARP request of notificationC2 and the ARP reply of notification C3 or the ARP request ofnotification C2 and the ARP reply of notification C5, that the VM 620tries to communicate with the VM 840, and performs processing 1550 inwhich the correspondence between the VM 620 and the VM 840 is stored ashistory of the communication in the DB 1120. As a result of processing1550, the MAC address of the VM 620 and the MAC address of the VM 840are associated with each other and are stored as communicationinformation in the DB 1120. As a result of referencing the communicationinformation, it is presumed that the MAC address of the VM 840 is cachedin the ARP cache of the VM 620, and the MAC address of the VM 620 iscached in the ARP cache of the VM 840. However, when the BR 1100 acts asa proxy to perform the ARP reply of notification C3 based on VMinformation, since the ARP request of notification C2 is not sent to theVM 840, the VM 840 does not acquire the MAC address of the VM 620. Thatis, there may be cases where although the MAC address of the VM 620 andthe MAC address of the VM 840 are associated with each other incommunication information, the MAC address of the VM 620 is not cachedin the ARP cache of the VM 840.

The VM 720, which has not acquired the MAC address of the VM 840,performs an ARP request with the destination IP address of the VM 840 inorder to perform communication at the L3 level with the VM 840. Asindicated by notification C6, the BR 1100 is notified of the ARP requestfrom the VM 720. Since the BR 1100, which receives the ARP request ofnotification C6, has already received the association between the MACaddress and the IP address of the VM 840 in processing 1400 orprocessing 1540, the BR 1100 acts as a proxy to send to the VM 720 theMAC address corresponding to the destination IP address included in theARP packet of the ARP request of notification C6 in accordance with theassociation between the MAC address and the IP address of each VM storedin the DB 1110. This ARP reply (proxy) is notification C7.

The VM 720, which has received the ARP reply (proxy) of notification C7,performs processing 1560 in which the MAC address of the VM 840 includedin the ARP packet is stored in the ARP cache. Communication at the L3level with the VM 840 is performed by the VM 720 based on the MACaddress of the VM 840 stored in the ARP cache of the VM 720 andtransmission data.

When processing 1400 (dashed-dotted border) is not performed, the BR1100, which has performed the ARP reply (proxy) of notification C7,captures the MAC address of the VM 720 included in the ARP packet in theARP request of notification C6, and thus performs processing 1580(dotted border) in which the MAC address of the VM 720 is stored in theDB 1110.

The BR 1100 determines, based on the ARP request of notification C6 andthe ARP reply of notification C7, that the VM 720 tries to communicatewith the VM 840, and performs processing 1590 in which thecorrespondence between the VM 720 and the VM 840 is stored as history inthe DB 1120. As a result of the processing 1590, the MAC address of theVM 720 and the MAC address of the VM 840 are associated with each otherand are stored as communication information in the DB 1120. As a resultof referencing the communication information, it is presumed that theMAC address of the VM 840 is cached in the ARP cache of the VM 720, andthe MAC address of the VM 720 is cached in the ARP cache of the VM 840.However, since based on VM information the BR 1100 acts as a proxy toperform the ARP reply by way of the notification C7, the VM 840 does notacquire the MAC address of the VM 720 in this example.

The VM manager SV 1000 notifies the VM 840 of a deletion instruction by,as indicated by notification C8. The VM 840, after receiving thedeletion instruction of notification C8, is deleted from the physicalserver 900 in deletion processing 1600.

For example, assume that the VM 620, the VM 720, and the VM 730 arevirtual machines in which an application is executed, and the VM 804provides an update file for the application. After the VM 840 providesthe update file to the VM 620 and the VM 720, the VM 840 may be abruptlydeleted in some cases for reasons such as detecting a defect in theupdate file. For example, a deletion instruction (C8) is an instructionfor deletion of the VM 840. The present disclosure is not limited tothis illustrative example.

If the VM manager SV 1000 notifies the VM 840 of a deletion instructionof notification C8, the VM manager SV 1000 gives a deletion notificationto the BR 1100 as indicated by notification C9. Processing 1610 ofdeleting the MAC address of the VM 840 from the DB 1100 is performed bythe BR 1100 which has received the deletion notification of notificationC9. As a result of processing 1610, the BR 1100 does not perform a proxyreply to the ARP request with the destination of the VM 840.Accordingly, there is no case where the MAC address of the VM 840 isnotified on behalf of the VM 840 even though the VM 840 has beendeleted. Therefore, starting communication with the VM 840 which hasalready been deleted is inhibited. This inhibits a needless packet frombeing sent to a network.

Although the example of FIG. 8 is an example in which the VM 840 isdeleted, a deletion notification from notification C9 is not given tothe BR 1100 promptly after the deletion of the VM 840—notifications tonotify the BR 1100 of deletion of a plurality of VMs which have not beendeleted simultaneously may be collectively given to the BR 1100. In thiscase, network bandwidth is not occupied by a deletion notification eachtime a VM is deleted. For example, based on a network communicationsituation, the VM manager SV 1000 may give deletion notification of aplurality of VMs which have not been simultaneously deleted to the BR1100 in a period when the network is not congested.

Upon receiving the deletion notification of notification C9 and based onthe DB 1120, the BR 1100 notifies the VM manager SV 1000 ofcommunication information about the VM 840, as indicated by notificationC10 (dashed double-dotted line). For example, from the deletionnotification of notification C9, the BR 1100 detects that the VM 840 isto be deleted. Then, in order to notify the VM manager SV 1000 of avirtual machine in which it is presumed that the MAC address of the VM840 is stored in the ARP cache, the BR 1100 extracts the MAC address ofthe virtual machine associated with the VM 840 from the DB 1120 andnotifies the VM manager SV 1000 of the extracted MAC address asnotification information.

The VM manager SV 1000 which has received the communication informationindicated by notification C10 determines, based on the communicationinformation, that virtual machines which store the MAC address of the VM840 in their ARP caches are the VM 620 and the VM 720, and notifies theVM 620 and the VM 720 of a communication stop instruction to stopcommunication with the VM 840, as indicated by notification C11 (dasheddouble-dotted line). Processing 1620 in which the MAC address of the VM840 is deleted from the ARP cache 630, for example, is performed by theVM 620, which has received the communication stop instruction ofnotification C11. Then, the VM 620 performs processing 1630 of stoppingcommunication with the VM 840. Additionally, the VM 720 which hasreceived the communication stop instruction of notification C11 performsprocessing 1640 in which the MAC address of the VM 840 is deleted froman ARP cache, for example. Then, the VM 720 performs processing 1650 ofstopping communication with the VM 840. Since a VM in which the MACaddress of a deleted VM is assumed to be stored in the ARP cache isidentified based on communication information and a communication stopinstruction is sent to the identified VM, it is unnecessary to sendcommunication stop instructions to all the VMs managed by the VM managerSV 1000, and thus the efficiency of network bandwidth utilization doesnot decrease.

Even if the MAC address of the VM 840 is not deleted from the ARP cachesof the VM 620 and the VM 720, the VM 620 and the VM 720 may be inhibitedfrom starting communication at the L3 level with the VM 840. Forexample, even if the MAC address of the VM 840 remains stored in the ARPcaches of the VM 620 and the VM 720, the VM 620 and the VM 720 mayinhibit generation of an L3-level packet toward the VM 840, and mayinhibit sending of an L3-level packet even if the packet is generated.For example, even if the MAC address of the VM 840 remains stored in theARP caches of the VM 620 and the VM 720, starting communication at theL3 level with the VM 840 may be inhibited by using a flag which disablespacket generation and packet sending. As described below, thanks to theabove processing, an L3-level packet may possibly not be missent to avirtual machine which has been deleted.

By the way, if the VM manager SV 1000 does not notify the VM 620 and theVM 720 of communication stop instructions based on notification C10(dashed double-dotted line) and notification C11 (dashed double-dottedline), the BR 1100 may notify the VM 620 and the VM 720 of communicationstop instructions, as indicated by notification C12 (dashed line). Evenin this case, as described above, since a VM in which the MAC address ofa deleted VM is assumed to be stored in the ARP cache is identifiedbased on communication information and a communication stop instructionis sent to the identified VM, it is unnecessary to send communicationstop instructions to all the VMs managed by the VM manager SV 1000, andthus the efficiency of network bandwidth utilization does not decrease.Additionally, even in this case, as described above, even if the MACaddress of the VM 840 is not deleted from the ARP caches of the VM 620and the VM 720, the VM 620 and the VM 720 may be inhibited from startingcommunication at the L3 level with the VM 840. For example, even if theMAC address of the VM 840 remains stored in the ARP caches of the VM 620and the VM 720, the VM 620 and the VM 720 may be inhibited fromgenerating an L3-level packet to be sent to the VM 840, and may also beinhibited from sending of an L3-level packet even if the packet isgenerated. For example, even if the MAC address of the VM 840 remainsstored in the ARP caches of the VM 620 and the VM 720, startingcommunication at the L3 level with the VM 840 may be inhibited by usinga flag which disables packet generation and packet sending.

The VM 730 which has not yet acquired the MAC address of the VM 840makes an ARP request with the destination IP address of the VM 840, asindicated by notification C13, in order to perform communication at theL3 level with the VM 840. The BR 1100 receives the ARP request ofnotification C13. However, since the MAC address of the VM 840 isdeleted from the DB 1110 in processing 1610 and there is no IP addresscorresponding to the VM 840 in a network connected to the BR 1100, theBR 1100 does not make the subsequent ARP request and proxy ARP reply.After a given period of time, the VM 730 which has not been able toreceive an ARP reply determines that the ARP request has timed out. Thatis, the VM 730 is not able to establish communication with the VM 840.

FIG. 9 illustrates another example of communication which occurs in theinformation processing system to which the embodiment is applied. Here,the VM 840 is deleted by the VM manager SV 1000 in the example ofcommunication illustrated in FIG. 8, and, an example in which, after theMAC address of the VM 840 is erased from the ARP cache 630 of the VM620, the VM 620 tries to communicate with the VM 840 once more, forexample, is illustrated.

In the VM 620, processing 1700 of making a request for communication ata layer 4 (hereinafter referred to as “L4”) level is performed. Forexample, in processing 1700, a request for communication is made by theapplication layer in the VM 620. Upon receipt of the request forcommunication at the L4 level, processing 1710, which requests forcommunication at the L3 level, is performed. For example, a transmissioncontrol protocol (TCP) driver implemented in the VM 620 makes a requestfor communication. Upon receipt of the request of communication at theL3 level, processing 1720, which tries to establish communication at theL2 level, is performed. Since the MAC address of the VM 840 is deletedfrom the ARP cache 630 of the VM 620 as a result of processing 1620illustrated in FIG. 8, the VM 620 performs processing 1730, whichperforms an ARP request to acquire the MAC address of the VM 840, inorder to establish communication at the L2 level. As a result ofprocessing 1730, as indicated by notification C14, an ARP packet ofseveral bytes as illustrated in FIG. 3 is sent as an ARP request to theBR 1100. In the BR 1100, however, the MAC address of the VM 840 has beendeleted from the DB 1110 in processing 1610 illustrated in FIG. 8, andit is determined that a VM corresponding to the destination IP addressincluded in the ARP packet is not connected to the NW 500. Therefore, anARP reply is not returned to the VM 620. Since an ARP reply is notreturned within a fixed period of time (for example, within severalseconds), processing 1740, which determines that the ARP request timedout, is performed in the VM 620. After the processing 1740 is performedprocessing 1750, which retries an ARP request is performed. As a resultof processing 1750, as indicated by notification C15, an ARP packet ofseveral bytes as illustrated in FIG. 3 is resent as an ARP request tothe BR 1100. However, the VM 840 has been deleted from the network, andtherefore an ARP reply does not return to the VM 620 as mentioned above.Accordingly, in the VM 620, processing 1760, which determines that theARP request has timed out again, is performed. The ARP request resultsin a failure, and therefore, in the VM 620, processing 1770, whichdetermines that communication with the VM 840 has not been established,is performed. In response to the result of processing 1770, in the VM620, processing 1780, which determines that communication at the L3level is not possible, is performed, and processing 1790 in which anerror notification is given at the L4 level is performed.

An ARP request is processing at the L2 level, and if communication isnot established at the L2 level, communication at the L3 level will notbe performed. Therefore, the timeout period for an ARP request isgenerally set to be relatively short (several seconds). That is, thetimeout period for an ARP request is set to be shorter than the timeoutperiod of processing at the L3 level. Generally, the number of retriesat the L2 level is set to be less than the number of retries at the L3level. Accordingly, the time taken until the failure of an ARP requestillustrated in FIG. 9 is at most several tens of seconds. Additionally,transmission data to be sent at the L3 level is not included in an ARPpacket, and therefore an ARP packet is generally a packet of severalbytes. That is, an ARP packet is smaller in size than an L3-levelpacket.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of communication as compared to theinformation processing system to which the embodiment is applied. Here,an example is displayed wherein, although the VM 840 has been deleted bythe VM manager SV 1000, the MAC address of the VM 840 has not beenerased from the VM 620, and the VM 620 tries to perform communication atthe L3 level with the VM 840. From the example illustrated in FIG. 10,problems which inventors have newly uncovered are also explained.

In the VM 620, processing 1800 of making a request for communication atthe L4 level is performed. For example, in processing 1800, a requestfor communication is made by the application layer in the VM 620. Uponreceipt of the request for communication at the L4 level, processing1810 of making a request for communication at the L3 level is performed.For example, a TCP driver that has been implemented in the VM 620 makesa request for communication. Upon receipt of the request ofcommunication at the L3 level, processing 1820 of trying to establishcommunication at the L2 level is performed. Although the VM 840 has beendeleted by the VM manager SV 1000, the MAC address of the VM 840 has notbeen deleted from the ARP cache 630 of the VM 620. Therefore, in the VM620, processing 1830 of starting communication at the L3 level isperformed. For example, as indicated by notification C50, asynchronization (SYN) packet (a packet for establishing communication atthe L3 level with the VM 840) created by the TCP driver implemented inthe VM 620 is sent to the BR 1100. The SYN packet, which is an L3-levelpacket, is a packet of several kilobytes. The VM 620 waits with theexpectation that the VM 840 would return an acknowledgement (ACK) packetfor the SYN packet. However, since the VM 840 has been deleted by the VMmanager SV 1000, the VM 840 does not exist in the network and an ACKpacket will not be returned. Accordingly, the VM 620 determines atimeout because there is no ACK packet for the SYN packet, andprocessing 1840 in which sending of a SYN packet is retried isperformed. As a result of processing 1840, a SYN packet is resent asindicated by notification C51. The timeout period for receipt of an ACKpacket for a SYN packet is set to several tens of seconds. The timeoutperiod that is set again when establishment of communication is retriedis longer than the initial timeout period. For example, the timeoutperiod is doubled each time establishment of communication is retried.The number of retries in this case is set to be larger than the numberof retries for establishing communication at the L2 level. The reasonfor this is as follows. It is determined that the fact thatcommunication at the L3 level has started ensures that communication atthe L2 level has already been established. That is, there is a designconcept that since communication at the L2 level has been established,retrying communication at the L3 level would lead to the establishmentof communication in time. However, in the example of FIG. 10, since theVM 840 does not exist in the network, an ACK packet is not sent as areply to resending of the SYN packet of notification C51. The VM 620determines a timeout again because of the absence of an ACK packet forthe resent SYN packet, and processing 1850 that makes a retry again isperformed. As a result of processing 1850, as indicated by notificationC52, a SYN packet is resent under the condition that the timeout periodis extended. Even though the SYN packet is resent under the conditionthat the timeout period is extended in processing 1850, an ACK packetdoes not return, and therefore, in the VM 620, processing 1860 in whicha timeout is determined again is performed. In the VM 620, sincecommunication at the L3 level results in a failure, processing 1870 ofdetermining that communication with the VM 840 has not been establishedis performed. In response to the result of processing 1870, in the VM620, processing 1880 of determining that communication at the L3 levelis not possible is performed, and processing 1890 in which an errornotification is given at the L4 level is performed.

As described above, communication at the L3 level is retried with thedetermination that communication with the counterparty has already beenestablished at the L2 level. Therefore, the timeout period is set to belonger than the timeout period of communication at the L2 level, and thenumber of retries is set to be larger than the number of retries ofcommunication at the L2 level. Accordingly, in contrast to the time ofseveral tens of seconds which is taken until an error notificationillustrated in FIG. 9 is given, the time taken until an errornotification illustrated in FIG. 10 is given is several minutes or more.Furthermore, actual data is included in an L3-level packet and thereforethe size of the L3-level packet is several kilobytes. A problem arisesin that such an L3-level packet continues to be sent over a network forseveral minutes or more despite the fact that the virtual machine towhich the packet is destined does not exist.

The inventors have newly found out these problems. As in the embodiment,when the VM 840 is deleted, the MAC address of the VM 840 is alsodeleted from an ARP cache corresponding to a VM, and thus communicationat the L3 level is inhibited. That is, the L3-level packet is inhibitedfrom being sent to a network, and the time taken until an errornotification is given is decreased.

Assume that, for example, several thousands of virtual machines areexecuted in one physical server. Each of the several thousands ofvirtual machines of a user A (company A) continues to send an L3-levelpacket of several kilobytes to a virtual machine which has beendisconnected from the network by the VM manager SV 1000, therebyimposing a heavy load on the network.

Additionally, not all of the several thousands of virtual machines areused by the same user (business person), and it is assumed that virtualmachines used by a plurality of users (business persons) are deployedand coexist in one physical server. For example, assume that severalhundreds of virtual machines used by one user B (business person B) andseveral hundreds of virtual machines used by another user C (businessperson C) are deployed and coexist in one physical server. The user Band the user C share the physical server and connection to a network.Therefore, if the user B continues to send an L3-level packet eventhough a virtual machine to which the packet is destined does not exist,the efficiency at which the user C accesses the network may markedlydecrease. That is, unnecessary packet sending by the user B narrows thetransmission bandwidth of the user C, which reduces the performance ofthe user C. Furthermore, the reduction in the performance of the user Cis not limited to a reduction in the speed of transmission to thenetwork. The user B and the user C share the same physical serverresources. Therefore, when mediation processing between virtual machinesis performed, for example, resources to be assigned to the mediationprocessing relatively decreases because of unnecessary packet sending bythe user B, and therefore performance for both the user B and the user Cin the physical server may decrease.

As described above, when a service in which a plurality of users(business persons) share one physical server is provided, the effect ofthe embodiment, which may inhibit unnecessary sending of an L3 packet,becomes even more marked. Additionally, according to the embodiment,since, based on communication information, a VM in which the MAC addressof a deleted VM is assumed to be stored in the ARP cache is identifiedand a communication stop instruction is sent to the identified VM, it isunnecessary to send communication stop instructions to all the VMsmanaged by the VM manager SV 1000, and thus the efficiency of networkbandwidth utilization does not decrease. This effect becomes more markedif the number of VMs increases.

FIG. 11 illustrates a hardware configuration of each server (SVs 600 to900) to which the embodiment is applied. Each of the SVs 600 to 900 is acomputer that includes a CPU 2000, a memory 2100, a storage device 2200,a transceiving interface (for data communications) 2300, a transceivinginterface (for management) 2400, and a bus 2500 to which thesecomponents are connected. The CPU 2000 includes one or more processorsfor performing processing. The memory 2100 is, for example, a randomaccess memory (RAM). The storage device 2200 is, for example, anonvolatile memory, such as a read only memory (ROM) or a flash memory,or a magnetic disk unit, such as a hard disk drive (HDD). Thetransceiving interface (for data communication) 2300 is an interface forsending and receiving data to and from an external device, and is acircuit such as an interface circuit, a communication circuit, acommunication control circuit, or a network interface card. Thetransceiving interface (for management) 2400 is an interface for sendingand receiving data for management, and is a circuit such as an interfacecircuit, a communication circuit, a communication control circuit, or anetwork interface card. Programs in which processing for controllingactions of the SVs 600 to 900 is written and programs in which a processillustrated in FIG. 13 is written are stored in the memory 2100. Theprograms stored in the memory 2100, when executed by the CPU 2000,control the actions of the SVs 600 to 900 so that the SVs 600 to 900function as functional blocks illustrated in FIG. 12.

FIG. 12 illustrates functional blocks performed in the servers (the SVs600 to 900) to which the embodiment is applied. The programs stored inthe memory 2100 are executed by the CPU 2000, and, as a result, each ofthe SVs 600 to 900 functions as a communication controller 2600, an ARPcontroller 2610, an ARP communication unit 2620, an ARP informationupdating unit 2630, a packet communication unit 2640 and a controlinformation acquiring unit 2650.

Processing performed by each functional block will be described below insuch a way that the processing corresponds to a process illustrated inFIG. 13.

FIG. 13 illustrates a process performed in the servers (the SVs 600 to900) to which the embodiment is applied. Processing 2700 of making arequest for communication at the L4 level is performed by thecommunication controller 2600 of the virtual machine included in each ofthe SVs 600 to 900. Processing 2700 of making a request forcommunication at the L4 level is processing in which a request forcommunication is made by the application layer of a virtual machine, forexample, and processing 1700 mentioned above is an example thereof.Processing 2710 of making a request for communication at the L3 level isperformed by the communication controller 2600. Processing 2710 ofmaking a request for communication at the L3 level is processing inwhich the implemented TCP driver makes a request for communication, forexample, and processing 1710 mentioned above is an example thereof.

When a request for communication at the L3 level is made, the ARPcontroller 2610 performs processing 2720 of determining whether an ARPrequest is to be made. For example, the ARP controller 2610 determineswhether the MAC address associated with the destination IP addressspecified in processing 2710 is present in an ARP cache stored in thememory 2100, and the process proceeds to processing 2730 if the MACaddress is absent in the ARP cache whereas the process proceeds toprocessing 2790 if the MAC address is present in the ARP cache.

If, in processing 2720, it is determined that an ARP request is to bemade, the ARP communication unit 2620 performs processing 2730 ofsending an ARP request. An example of the ARP packet sent by the ARPcommunication unit 2620 is the example of a packet configurationillustrated in FIG. 3. Some of the examples of processing 2730 ofsending an ARP request are notifications C2, C6, and C13 illustrated inFIG. 8.

Processing 2740 of determining whether received data is present isperformed by the virtual machine included in each of the SV 600 to 900.If it is determined that received data is absent, then the ARPcontroller 2610 performs processing 2750 of determining whether a fixedperiod of time has passed. If it is determined that the fixed timeperiod has passed, the process returns to processing 2740, whereas if itis determined that the fixed time has passed, it is determined that anARP reply for the ARP request has not been made, and then processing2760 in which the process terminates with an error is performed.

In processing 2740, if it is determined that the received data ispresent, then the ARP controller 2610 performs processing 2770 ofdetermining whether the received data is a reply for the ARP request. Ifit is determined that the received data is not a reply for the ARPrequest, the process returns to processing 2740.

If, in processing 2770, it is determined that the received data is areply to the ARP request, then the ARP information updating unit 2630performs processing 2780 of updating the ARP cache. For example, the ARPinformation updating unit 2630 stores the MAC address acquired from thepacket of an ARP reply in association with the IP address, asinformation illustrated in FIG. 4, in the memory 2100. Some of theexamples of processing 2780 are processing 1510 and processing 1560illustrated in FIG. 8.

When the MAC address of the destination has been acquired in processing2770, processing 2790 of performing communication at the L3 level isperformed. In processing 2790, since the destination MAC address isstored in the ARP cache, the communication controller 2600 is notifiedby the ARP controller 2610 that communication at the L2 level with thedestination VM has been established. The communication controller 2600which has received this notification causes the packet communicationunit 2640 to generate an L3-level packet based on the destination MACaddress stored in the ARP cache and transmission data, and send thepacket to the destination. Some of the examples of processing 2790 areprocessing 1520 and processing 1570 illustrated in FIG. 8.

The control information acquiring unit 2650 performs processing 2800 ofdetermining whether a VM deletion instruction is present. If it isdetermined that a VM deletion instruction is absent, the communicationcontroller 2600 performs processing 2810 of determining whethercommunication has been completed. If it is determined that communicationhas not been completed, the process proceeds to processing 2790, wherethe process ends if it is determined that communication has beencompleted.

In processing 2800, if it is determined that a VM deletion instructionis present, for example, the ARP information updating unit 2630 performsprocessing 2820 of deleting the MAC address of a VM identified by thedeletion notification from the ARP cache, and then the process proceedsto processing 2720. Some of the examples of processing 2820 areprocessing 1620 and processing 1640 illustrated in FIG. 8. One exampleof processing 2720 subsequent to processing 2820 corresponds to theprocess illustrated in FIG. 9. Although described above, even if the MACaddress of the VM identified by the deletion notification is notdeleted, starting communication at the L3 level may be inhibited. Forexample, even if the MAC address of the VM identified by the deletionnotification remains stored in the ARP cache, generation of an L3-levelpacket may be inhibited, and sending of an L3-level packet may also beinhibited even if the packet is generated. For example, even if the MACaddress of the VM identified by the deletion notification remains storedin the ARP cache, starting communication at the L3 level with theidentified VM may be inhibited by using a flag which disables packetgeneration and packet sending. By means of the above processing, aL3-level packet may possibly not be missent to a virtual machine whichhas been deleted.

FIG. 14 illustrates a hardware configuration of a management server (theVM manager SV 1000) to which the embodiment is applied. The VM managerSV 1000 is a computer that includes a CPU 3000, a memory 3100, a storagedevice 3200, a transceiving interface (for data communications) 3300, atransceiving interface (for management) 3400, and a bus 3500 to whichthese components are connected. The CPU 3000 includes one or moreprocessors for performing processing. The memory 3100 is, for example, aRAM. The storage device 3200 is, for example, a nonvolatile memory, suchas a ROM or a flash memory, or a magnetic disk, such as an HDD. Thetransceiving interface (for data communication) 3300 is an interface forsending and receiving data to and from an external device, and is acircuit such as an interface circuit, a communication circuit, acommunication control circuit, or a network interface card. Thetransceiving interface (for management) 3400 is an interface for sendingand receiving data for management, and is a circuit such as an interfacecircuit, a communication circuit, a communication control circuit, or anetwork interface card. The memory stores both programs in whichprocessing for controlling actions of the VM manager SV 1000 is writtenand programs in which a process illustrated in FIG. 16 is written. Theprograms stored in the memory 3100, when executed by the CPU 3000,control the actions of the VM manager SV 1000 such that the VM managerSV 1000 functions as functional blocks illustrated in FIG. 15.

FIG. 15 illustrates functional blocks performed in the management server(the VM manager SV 1000) to which the embodiment is applied. Theprograms stored in the memory 3100 are executed by the CPU 3000, and, asa result, the VM manager SV 1000 functions as a VM controller 3600, acontrol information communication unit 3610, a VM information updatingunit 3620, a VM information communication unit 3630 and a communicationinformation acquiring unit 3640. Processing performed by each functionalblock will be described below in such a way that the processingcorresponds to a process illustrated in FIG. 16.

FIG. 16 illustrates a process performed in the VM manager SV 1000 towhich the embodiment is applied. Processing 3700 of sending a deletioninstruction to a VM is performed. In processing 3700, the VM controller3600 identifies a VM to be deleted, and the control informationcommunication unit 3610 sends a deletion instruction the identified VM.At this point, the VM information updating unit 3620 performs processingto delete both the MAC address and the IP address of the deleted VM fromVM information stored in the memory 3100. An example of the deletioninstruction sent in processing 3700 is notification C8 illustrated inFIG. 8.

Processing 3710 of sending a deletion notification to the BR 1100 isperformed by the VM information communication unit 3630. As a result ofprocessing 3710, data, such as the MAC address and IP address of the VMto be deleted, is sent as information identifying the VM to be deleted.Although described below, this deletion notification is acquired by a VMinformation acquiring unit 4640 included in the BR 1100. Thereby, inclose cooperation with communication information of the DB 1120, thedeletion notification identifies a VM to which a communication stopinstruction is to be sent. An example of the deletion instruction sentin processing 3710 is notification C9 illustrated in FIG. 8.

Processing 3720 of determining whether to send a communication stopinstruction to VMs other than the VM to which the deletion instructionhas been sent is performed by the VM controller 3600. In processing3720, if it is determined that a communication stop instruction is notto be sent to other VMs, the process terminates. In processing 3720, ifit is determined that a communication stop instruction is to be sent toother VMs, the process proceeds to processing 3730.

Processing 3730 in which the VM controller 3600 requests the BR 1100 toprovide communication information and the communication information isreceived by the communication information acquiring unit 3640 isperformed. The communication information is information illustrated inFIG. 7, for example, and is information indicating which virtual machinemay have acquired the MAC address of which virtual machine. As a resultof processing 3730, the VM manager SV 1000 stores the communicationinformation in the memory 3100. An example of receipt of thecommunication information in processing 3730 is notification C10illustrated in FIG. 8.

Processing 3740 in which an address associated with the address of theVM to which a deletion instruction has been sent is extracted based onthe communication information is performed by the VM controller 3600.Since the communication information indicates which virtual machine mayhave acquired the MAC address of which virtual machine, it is presumedthat the MAC address of the deleted VM may be stored in the ARP cache ofa VM having an address associated with the address of the VM to whichdeletion instruction has been sent, as described above. That is, as aresult of processing 3740, a VM, in which the MAC address of the VM towhich a deletion instruction has been sent and may be stored in the ARPcache, is specified, and the VM to which a VM deletion instruction is tobe sent is extracted

Processing 3750 in which a communication stop instruction is sent to aVM corresponding to the address extracted in processing 3740 isperformed by the control information communication unit 3610. An exampleof the communication stop instruction is notification C11 illustrated inFIG. 8. The communication stop instruction sent in processing 3750 is aninstruction to inhibit a VM corresponding to the extracted address fromsending an L3-level packet to the deleted VM. In a VM which has receivedthe communication stop instruction, the MAC address is deleted from theARP cache, generation or sending of a packet is inhibited by using aflag, and a state in which generation or sending of a packet isinhibited is brought about, as mentioned above. When the communicationstop instruction has been sent as a result of processing 3750, theprocess ends.

FIG. 17 illustrates a hardware configuration of a bridge (the BR 1100)to which the embodiment is applied. The BR 1100 is a computer includinga CPU 4000, a memory 4100, a storage device 4200, a transceivinginterface (for data communications) 4300, a transceiving interface (formanagement) 4400, and a bus 4500 to which these components areconnected. The CPU 4000 includes one or more processors for performingprocessing. The memory 4100 is, for example, a RAM. The storage device4200 is, for example, a nonvolatile memory, such as a ROM or a flashmemory, or a magnetic disk device, such as an HDD. The transceivinginterface (for data communication) 4300 is an interface for sending andreceiving data to and from an external device, and is a circuit such asan interface circuit, a communication circuit, a communication controlcircuit, or a network interface card. The transceiving interface (formanagement) 4400 is an interface for sending and receiving data formanagement, and is a circuit such as an interface circuit, acommunication circuit, a communication control circuit, or a networkinterface card. Programs in which processing for controlling actions ofthe BR 1100 is written and programs, in which a process illustrated inFIG. 19 is written, are stored in the memory 4100. The programs storedin the memory 4100, when executed by the CPU 3000, control the actionsof the BR 1100 so that the BR 1100 functions as functional blocksillustrated in FIG. 18.

FIG. 18 illustrates functional blocks performed in the bridge (the BR1100) to which the embodiment is applied. The programs stored in thememory 4100 are executed by the CPU 4000, and, as a result, the BR 1100functions as a communication unit 4600, a controller 4610, an ARPinformation updating unit 4620, a communication information updatingunit 4630 and a VM information acquiring unit 4640. Processing performedby each functional block will be described below in such a way that theprocessing corresponds to a process illustrated in FIG. 19.

FIG. 19 illustrates a process performed in the BR 1100 to which theembodiment is applied. Processing 4700 of receiving a packet isperformed by the communication unit 4600. Processing 4710 of determiningwhether the received packet is an ARP request is performed by thecontroller 4610. As a result of analysis of the packet received inprocessing 4710, if it is determined that the received packet is not anARP request, the process proceeds to processing 4720. The controller4610 performs processing 4720 of relaying the packet, and the processreturns to processing 4700. As a result of analysis of the packetreceived in processing 4710, if it is determined that the receivedpacket is an ARP request, the process proceeds to processing 4730.Processing 4730 of acquiring an IP address from the received packet isperformed by the controller 4610.

Processing 4740 of determining whether the MAC address corresponding tothe acquired IP address is stored in the DB 1110 is performed by thecontroller 4610. The controller 4610 determines based on informationstored in the DB 1110 (see FIG. 6), for example, whether the MAC addresscorresponding to the acquired IP address has been acquired.

If it is determined in processing 4740 that the MAC addresscorresponding to the acquired IP address is absent in the DB 1110,processing 4750 in which an ARP packet is generated and is sent by thecommunication unit 4600 is performed. The received ARP request isrelayed by processing 4750. If processing 4760 of receiving a packet isperformed by the communication unit 4600, then processing 4770 ofdetermining whether the packet is an ARP reply for the relayed ARPrequest is performed by the controller 4610. In processing 4770, if itis determined that the packet is not an ARP reply for the relayed ARPrequest, the process proceeds to processing 4760, whereas if it isdetermined that the packet is an ARP reply for the relayed ARP request,the process proceeds to processing 4780. In processing 4780, the ARPinformation updating unit 4620 performs processing to update the DB 1100and store the MAC address. The determination that the packet is an ARPreply for the relayed ARP request means that because the source MACaddress of the ARP packet in the ARP reply is the MAC address requestedin the ARP request, the ARP information updating unit 4620 updates theDB 1110 in so that the MAC address and the IP address of the source ofthe ARP packet in the ARP reply are associated with each other, and theprocess proceeds to processing 4790. An example of the ARP packet sentin processing 4750 is notification C4 illustrated in FIG. 8, and anexample of processing 4780 is processing 1530 and processing 1540illustrated in FIG. 8.

Either, if it is determined in processing 4740 that the MAC addresscorresponding to the acquired IP address is present in the DB 1110, orsubsequent to processing 4780, the controller 4610 performs processing4790. In processing 4790, the controller 4610 associates the source MACaddress in the ARP request with the source MAC address in the ARP reply.

Processing 4800, in which a combination of the MAC addresses associatedwith each other in processing 4790 is stored as communicationinformation in the DB 1120, is performed by the communicationinformation updating unit 4630. An example of the communicationinformation stored in the DB 1120 is information illustrated in FIG. 7.The BR 1100 acquires communication information as a result of processing4790 and processing 4800, and thereby acquires information fordetermining which virtual machine stores in the ARP cache thereof theMAC address of which virtual machine. Some of the examples of processing4800 are processing 1550 and processing 1590 illustrated in FIG. 8.

Processing 4810 of determining whether there is a deletion notificationfor a VM is performed. When the VM information acquiring unit 4640receives a deletion notification, the controller 4610 determines thatthe deletion notification is present. An example of the deletionnotification is notification C9 illustrated in FIG. 8. If it isdetermined that a deletion notification is present, the controller 4610causes an ARP information updating unit 4620 to perform processing 4820in which the MAC address of a VM whose deletion is indicated by adeletion notification is deleted from the DB 1110. As a result ofprocessing 4820, the BR 1100 is inhibited from mistakenly making an ARPreply on behalf of a VM in a situation where the MAC address of the VMremains stored in the DB 1110 even though the VM has been deleted.Otherwise, if it is determined that a deletion notification is absent,the process proceeds to processing 4870.

Processing 4830 of determining whether to send a communication stopinstruction to VMs other than the VM to which a deletion instruction hasbeen sent is performed by the controller 4610. If it is determined thata communication stop instruction will not be sent, then processing 4840of sending communication information to the VM manager SV 1000 isperformed. The reason why communication information is sent to the VMmanager SV 1000 is that the communication information allows the VMmanager SV 1000 to determine which virtual machine stores in the ARPcache thereof the MAC address of which virtual machine. For example, allof the communication information may be sent, and, instead, the MACaddress of a VM associated with the VM to be deleted may be selected andsent to the VM manager SV 1000 in order to decrease occupiedcommunication bandwidth. Additionally, processing 4840 may be performedafter receipt of a request for communication information from the VMmanager SV 1000. An example of processing 4840 is notification C12illustrated in FIG. 8. After processing 4840 is completed, the processproceeds to processing 4870.

If it is determined that a communication stop instruction will be sentto VMs other than the VM to which a deletion instruction has been sent,processing 4850, which extracts addresses associated with the address ofthe VM to which a deletion instruction has been sent, is performed bythe controller 4610. Since communication information indicates whichvirtual machine may have acquired the MAC address of which virtualmachine, as described above, it is presumed that the MAC address of thedeleted VM may be stored in the ARP cache of a VM having an addressassociated with the address of the VM to which a deletion instructionhas been sent. That is, as a result of processing 4850, VMs, of whichthe ARP caches thereof may store the MAC address of the VM to which adeletion instruction has been sent, are identified, and the VMs to whichcommunication stop instructions are to be sent are extracted.

Processing 4860 of sending communication stop instructions to VMscorresponding to addresses extracted in processing 4850 is performed. Anexample of the communication stop instructions is notification C12illustrated in FIG. 8. The communication stop instruction sent inprocessing 4860 is an instruction for inhibiting a VM corresponding tothe extracted address from sending an L3-level packet to the deleted VM.In a VM which has received the communication stop instruction, stepssuch as deleting the MAC address from the ARP cache or using a flag toinhibit generation or sending of a packet, and a state in whichgeneration or sending of a packet is inhibited is brought about, asmentioned above.

Processing 4870 in which it is determined whether to continuecommunication is performed by the controller 4610. If it is determinedthat communication will be continued, the process proceeds to processing4700. If it is determined that communication will not be continued, theprocess ends.

The VM manager SV 1000, which manages the generation, elimination andmovement of VMs, does not manage either actual communication or thecommunication counterparty for each VM. The BR 1100, which is a relaydevice for packets, is not concerned with the generation, eliminationand movement of each VM. According to the embodiment, the BR 1100, whichrelays ARP requests and ARP replies, stores as notification informationwhich virtual machine may have acquired the MAC address of which virtualmachine as part of ARP processing. This information is brought intoclose cooperation with VM information about the generation, eliminationand movement of VMs managed by the VM manager SV 1000, and thus when aVM is erased, VMs storing the MAC address of the deleted VM in the ARPcaches are identified. By performing steps such as deleting the MACaddress of the deleted VM from the ARP caches of the identified VMs orinhibiting generation or sending of an L3-level packet to the deletedVM, an L3-level packet to the deleted VM will not be sent. As describedabove, for example, not all the virtual machines executed in onephysical machine are used by the same user (business person). Therefore,an L3-level packet is inhibited from being sent over a network, and thuscommunication bandwidth and resources for other users (business persons)will not be squeezed. That is, when a service in which a plurality ofusers (business persons) share one physical server is provided, theeffect of the embodiment which may inhibit unnecessary sending of anL3-level packet has a particularly marked effect.

All examples and conditional language recited herein are intended forpedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the inventionand the concepts contributed by the inventor to furthering the art, andare to be construed as being without limitation to such specificallyrecited examples and conditions, nor does the organization of suchexamples in the specification relate to a showing of the superiority andinferiority of the invention. Although the embodiment of the presentinvention has been described in detail, it should be understood that thevarious changes, substitutions, and alterations could be made heretowithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. An information processing system comprising: afirst computer; and a second computer configured to store, during agiven period, an address of the first computer to transmit a packet tothe first computer, wherein when the first computer is disconnected froma network that is for the second computer to communicate with the firstcomputer, the second computer stops a transmission of the packet.
 2. Theinformation processing system according to claim 1, wherein the secondcomputer stops the transmission of the packet even if the secondcomputer stores the address.
 3. The information processing systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the second computer is a second virtualcomputer executed in a physical computer in which a plurality of virtualcomputers are executed.
 4. The information processing system accordingto claim 1 further comprising: a relay device configured to relay thepacket and store a history of a request for acquisition of the address,the request being received from the second computer, wherein when thefirst computer is disconnected from the network and the address isstored in the second computer based on the history, the second computerstops sending the packet.
 5. The information processing system accordingto claim 4 further comprising: a manager computer configured to give anotification that the first computer is disconnected from the network,wherein in response to the notification, it is determined based on thehistory whether the address is stored in the second computer.
 6. Theinformation processing system according to claim 5, wherein the firstcomputer is a first virtual computer, and disconnecting the firstcomputer from the network is performed by deleting the first virtualcomputer from a physical computer in which the manager computer executesthe first virtual computer.
 7. The information processing systemaccording to claim 6, wherein the manager computer gives thenotification together with a notification stating that a virtualcomputer other than the first virtual computer is disconnected from thenetwork.
 8. The information processing system according to claim 1,wherein the second computer caches the address for a certain period oftime.
 9. The information processing system according to claim 1, whereinwhen the first computer is disconnected from the network, the secondcomputer erases the address of the first computer stored in the secondcomputer.
 10. The information processing system according to claim 1,wherein when the first computer is disconnected from the network thesecond computer is inhibited from generating the packet.
 11. Theinformation processing system according to claim 1, wherein when thefirst computer is disconnected from the network, the second computerenters a state where sending of the packet is inhibited.
 12. Theinformation processing system according to claim 1, wherein the firstcomputer and the second computer are connected to layer 2 networks whichare different from each other, and communication between the firstcomputer and the second computer are relayed by the relay device. 13.The information processing system according to claim 3, wherein thefirst computer and the second computer are connected to the same layer 2network.
 14. The information processing system according to claim 3,wherein the relay device stores the address, and the address stored inthe relay device is erased when the first computer is disconnected fromthe network.
 15. A relay device comprising: a memory; and a processorcoupled to the memory and configured to store, in the memory,information indicating that a second computer stores an address of afirst computer, when the relay device receives a packet including theaddress and transmitted from a second computer.
 16. The relay deviceaccording to claim 15, wherein the second computer stores the address totransmit another packet including the address during a given period, andthe information is used for causing the second computer to stop atransmission of the another packet when the first computer isdisconnected from a network for communicating with the second computer.17. An information processing device comprising: a memory; and aprocessor coupled to the memory and configured to cause a secondcomputer to stop a transmission of a packet including an address of afirst computer when the first computer is disconnected from a networkfor communicating with the second computer, the second computer storingthe address.
 18. The information processing device according to claim17, wherein the second computer is a second virtual computer executed ina physical computer in which a plurality of virtual computers areexecuted.
 19. An information processing method comprising: when a firstcomputer is disconnected from a network for communicating with a secondcomputer which is configured to transmit a packet including an addressof the first computer, stopping a transmission of the packet from thesecond computer.
 20. The information processing method according toclaim 19, wherein the transmission is stopped even if the secondcomputer stores the address.